MMAB Operational Wave Models

NOTICE: Upgrade to the Global Wave Forecasting System Multi_1
Effective on or about January 9, 2018, beginning with the 1200
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) run, the National Centers for
Environmental Prediction (NCEP) will make a major upgrade to
the Global Wave Forecasting System (Multi_1).
Upgrade highlights:
- Adding a North Polar Stereographic Grid extending to near the
North Pole
- Extending hourly grib2 output out to 120 hours

The model is
run four times a day: 00Z, 06Z, 12Z, and 18Z. Each run starts
with 9-, 6- and 3-hour hindcasts and produces forecasts of every 3 hours from the
initial time out to 180 hours (84 hours for the Great Lakes).

NOAA WAVEWATCH III® Hindcast and Reanalysis Archives

MMAB currently maintains two classes of WAVEWATCH III®
hindcasts.

A thirty-year hindcast generated from the
NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis and Reforecast (CFSRR)
homogeneous dataset of hourly high-resolution winds. The time
period covers from 1979 through 2009. This is a true hindcast
generated with a single version of the model and a statistically
consistent forcing wind field, and is suitable for use in climate
studies.

An ongoing data set produced by rerunning the model from the
operational wind fields to produce best-estimate nowcast datasets.
This is a statistically inhomogeneous hindcast data set, because the
underlying models are periodically updated. Therefore this data set
should not be used for climate studies.

Detailed descriptions of the hindcasts and reanalyses,
with links to the datasets,
validation statistics from buoy match-ups, and visualizations of the
model data fields, can be found in the
WAVEWATCH
III® Hindcast and Reanalysis Archives

WAVEWATCH III® Tutorials

Two COMET
modules are available regarding WAVEWATCH III® and analysis of ocean swell: